Since Lacan: Volume 25 (Papers of the Freudian School of Melbourne) by Linda Clifton

Author:Linda Clifton
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Karnac Books
Published: 2015-12-10T05:00:00+00:00

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* An earlier version of this paper was presented at The Freudian School of Melbourne's 2012 “Homage to Lacan”.

CHAPTER TWELVE

What's not home in homelessness?

Peter Gunn

I am part of a program designed to address chronic homelessness. With the program soon to finish, it is now clear that not all of the participants have been able to be comfortably accommodated. The reason for these outliers is not entirely clear. Certainly there has been no lack of effort, particularly on the part of caseworkers.

Let me give you an example. I will call this man Neville.

Especially at the start of the project, Neville would closely question his caseworker about her reasons. Neville pressed her to give an account of herself: “Why are you taking such an interest in me?”

“There's nothing wrong with me,” he says. “I'm not a paranoid schizophrenic, but an intelligent man who has a lot of wisdom.” “I've worked it all out.” “People are jealous and don't want me to succeed.” “It's a set-up: they've hooked me up to heroin; they've destroyed my soul.” “I'm heart-broken.” “I had a girlfriend in Sydney; she is now a supermodel who has 240 million dollars and lives in London.” “My family has exploited me and they are now having a good life in New York and LA living it up.” “I'm walking around poor and lonely on this planet.”

At other times Neville speaks of everything being pointless, and of being better off on the streets of The Cross. As most of you will know (and certainly it's been in the news quite a lot of late, and for all the wrong reasons), “The Cross” is the Sydney colloquialism for the well-known entertainment or, slightly less euphemistically, red-light, district of Sydney. The somewhat more formal name for this district is “Kings Cross”, but even that name does not appear in the official list of Sydney suburbs.

His worker thinks that part of the attraction of Kings Cross may be that it has a “shooting gallery”, or, to use the more recent, and more official terminology, a Medically Supervised Injecting Centre. But as well as being a place to where he has safe, and free, access to drugs (i.e., heroin), Neville sees the shooting gallery as a place to socialise. Sydney is Neville's hometown; he grew up there; “I'm a Sydney person,” he says.

Neville has gone back to Sydney for extended periods on several occasions during the course of the program. Before setting off at these times he is sad, even to the point of feeling like killing himself.

Having said that, Neville does also say that despite having had his trust broken many times, after more than two years of intensive work he does now have a degree of trust in his caseworker.

Nevertheless, the question posed by this man to his caseworker remains, “What is your interest in me?” If, as a psychoanalyst, I am part of this same program, this is a question which I must hear as also addressed to me. I hear

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